Mac OS X comes with dozens of utilities and applicationsmany of which
can be easily cataloged, such as the Internet and media tools discussed in the
upcoming chapters. Many applications, however, can't easily be assigned a
category. This chapter covers the useful Mac OS X applications and
utilities that you're likely to use regularly. If you're a big fan of
Stickies, sorry; it gets an honorable mention, but we have to draw the line
somewhere!

Address Book

The Mac OS X Address Book is more than a simple contact manager or a mailing
label printer. It is a systemwide database that stores all your contact
information and is accessible from other applications that require you to
"contact people." So, you, ask, what are these other applications;
email is the only place where it could be useful, right? Wrong. Address Book
data is available in Safari, Mail, Sherlock, iCal, Fax, iChat, and more! A
properly maintained Address Book can organize your data and streamline how you
use your computer.

Standards-Based

With the LDAP protocol (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) and vCard 3.0
Personal Data Interchange format, the Address Book is based entirely on open
standards and can be used in a cross-platform environment.

vCards

The most common way to send contact information with an email is by adding a
signature. Unfortunately, there is no standard for signatures, so picking up
contact information from one is an exercise in futility. The vCard
(.vcf) format attempts to change this by defining a simple
cross-platform MIME standard for an electronic business card. vCards can be used
on PDAs such as the Palm Pilot, and then copied to your system and used directly
within the Address Book application.

The vCard defines a person object based on X.520 and X.521 directory services
standardsimplemented on a large scale in enterprise directory systems.
Even encoded images can be included in vCards!

After a vCard is generated, it can be attached to email messages for easy
importing into remote address books. In the case of Mac OS X, you can simply
drag the vCard from an Email message window into the Address Book, and it will
be added to your contact list. To attach your own vCard, you can drag from the
Address Book into a message Compose window.

LDAP

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol defines a means of querying remote
directory systems that contain personnel data. Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X
computers all have the capability to poll LDAP servers for account information,
such as login and password.

The Address Book uses LDAP server connectivity to retrieve contact
information from network servers. You can add your own LDAP server to the mix as
long as you know the name or IP address of the server, and the search base.

The search base defines a starting point in the LDAP hierarchy to
begin looking for information. Companies might have their LDAP directories built
based on a per-department schema or other arrangement. Unless you are the LDAP
administrator, it is impossible to guess the appropriate search base. Your best
bet is not to use a search base, or to contact your network administrator for
the correct value. Bases are specified in the following format:

<key name>=<base string>

NOTE

Exchange users will be happy to know that Address Book now supports Exchange
synchronization. This is covered in detail in Chapter 30, "Windows
Interoperability."

Using Address Book

The main Address Book window, shown in Figure 3.1, has two viewing
stylesCard and Column view and Card Only view. To toggle between them, use
the View buttons at the upper left. You will do most of your work with Address
Book in Card and Column view. The Card view displays only a single contact at a
time, making the usefulness debatable.

The Card and Column view displays a three-column view of the Address Book
with these columns:

GroupA list of all the groups of contacts on your system. The three
predefined groups are All, which shows the contents of all your group,
Directories (LDAP Servers), and Last Import, which contains the last card/cards
you imported via LDAP or from an external source.

Name/DirectoryThe contacts (or available directory servers) within
the selected group.

Contact CardA "business" card view of the currently
selected contact.

At the bottom of the Group and Name columns are "+" buttons that
add new Groups and Contacts to the system. Under the Contact Card pane is an
Edit button that switches the current contact to Edit mode.

You can browse through your contacts much like using the Finder's column
view. Choose a group and then a contact within the group, and view their
information in the contact pane. The Search field at the top of the Address Book
window searches the currently selected group for a string of your choice.

Working with Cards

Because Address Book maintains contact information, the base "unit"
of information is a single person stored in an Address Book card. Address cards
can store multiple addresses, phone numbers, and contact information for an
individual, making it unnecessary to maintain multiple cards for a single
person.

Adding/Editing Cards

To add a card, select the group that should contain the contact and then
click the + button below the Name column. This opens a blank card in the right
column where you can type the information you want to save.

There are fields for name, work and mobile phone, email address, home page,
names of friends/relatives, AIM handle, and addresses as well as a space at the
bottom for notes. You can Tab between fields or click into the ones you want to
insert. You can add as much or as little information as you want, but an email
address is required if you plan to use the card with Mail, and an AIM handle is
required for iChat.

NOTE

vCards are a standard across multiple platforms and are often included in
email messages. You can drag vCard attachments from within the Mail application
into Address Book to add them.

If the label to the left of the field doesn't match the information you
want to add, you can adjust it by clicking the up/down arrows icon. This opens a
pop-up menu with several common labels as well as an option to customize. In
some cases, such as adding a phone number, you may want (or need) to add
multiple values. When you're editing a field that supports multiple
entries, plus and minus buttons appear to the left of the field. Clicking plus
adds a new field of the same type; minus removes the field. To add completely
new fields, choose Card, Add Field; then choose from any of the available
fields.

TIP

The default template for creating new cards can be changed in the Address
Book application preferences, or by choosing Card, Add Field, Edit Template.

In the upper-left corner of the Card column is the card picture well. If you
want to add a custom picture, you can paste it into the well, or double-click
the picture well (choose Card, Choose Custom Image) to open a window where you
can drag an image file and zoom/crop the image, or even take a video snapshot.
This process is identical to setting your Buddy icon in iChat, which is
covered in detail in Chapter 4, "Internet Applications." To clear a
custom image, choose Card, Clear Custom Image.

To edit a card you've already created, select the name of the individual
from the Name column and click the Edit button below the Card column, or choose
Edit, Edit Card (Command-L) from the menu.

To delete a card, select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard or
choose Edit, Delete Person. You are asked to confirm the action before it is
carried out.

Special Card Settings and Functions

When editing a card, a few special properties and functions can be applied.
The first, Card, Make this My Card, sets the current card so that it represents
you, the owner of the active system account. Your address book card is
represented with a "head" icon in Address Book listings, unlike other
cards.

A second property, set by choosing Card, This is a Company, or by clicking
the Company check box when editing a card, swaps the Company and Contact
information in the card display and alters the card icon in the listing to
resemble a small building.

If you are displeased with the first/last name ordering in a card, choose
Card, Swap First/Last Name, and they are reversed in the Card view. To reset to
the default ordering, choose Card, Reset First/Last Name to Default.

A final option, Card, Merge Cards (Command-|) is useful if you've
accidentally created multiple cards for the same person. You can merge
information in two or more cards by selecting them in the Name column and then
choosing the Merge Cards option.

Viewing Cards

When a card is not in Edit mode, many of the labels in the Card view provide
links to useful functions. Clicking a "friend/relation" name displays
the option to jump to that person's contact card, if it exists.

A unique feature Apple provides is the capability to display a Web-based map
of any street address in your address book. Click the label to the right of any
address field and choose Map Of from the pop-up menu. Your Web browser opens to
a map of the location. You can also choose to copy the URL of the map, or copy
an address-label form of the address to the Clipboard.

If you have the Apple BlueTooth adapter, you can click the button in the
Address Book to locate paired BlueTooth phones within range. You can then click
a phone number within an address card and choose Dial from the pop-up menu to
dial your phone.

In addition, BlueTooth-paired phones automatically trigger Address Book to
display the Address card (if available) for incoming calls, and provide the
capability to answer the call or send the call to voicemail.

Adding/Editing Groups

You can arrange your cards into your own custom groups, which, besides
creating organization, can be used to send email to a common collection of
people.

TIP

If you have many cards to work with but no need for mailing to custom groups,
you can enter keywords in the Notes section of the cards and then use the Search
function, located at the upper right of the Card and Column view, to see only
those cards that contain your chosen keyword.

To create a group, click the "+" button under the Group column and
type a name for it. You can then start adding contacts to the group, either by
adding them using the method discussed previously, or by selecting another
contact group (such as All) and dragging contacts from the Name column to
populate the new group. You can hold down the Command key to select more than
one addressee at a time.

NOTE

The controls for adding and managing groups in Address Book are shared with
many applications throughout the operating system. You should familiarize
yourself with their use.

Distribution Groups

An Address Book group can be used with Mail to send messages to a group of
people simultaneously by dragging the group into the Address field in Mail. When
used in this manner, the group is considered a Distribution Group. All
Address Book groups can be used as Distribution Groups, but before using them,
you may want to choose which email address each contact in the group uses when
the message is sent. To do this, highlight your group in Address Book; then
choose Edit, Edit Distribution List. A window similar to that shown in Figure
3.2 appears.

Figure
3.2 Choose the address to use if a group is used to send email.

Use the pop-up menu in the upper right-corner of the Distribution List window
to switch all contacts in the group to their work, home, or other addresses. To
switch on a person-by-person basis, simply click the correct contact address in
the list to highlight it.

When all the correct addresses are selected, click OK. You can now use your
Address Book group as a mailing distribution list.

LDAP Servers

To set up Address Book for LDAP queries, open the LDAP pane in the
application preferences. The LDAP pane allows you to configure multiple LDAP
servers to query. The "+" button opens a sheet for configuring your
server, as shown in Figure 3.3.

Add a name for the server that will be displayed in the Address Book, along
with the necessary information for querying the directory.

Click Save to save the LDAP server. You can use the "+",
"-", and Edit buttons in the LDAP tab to manage your LDAP servers.

Search an LDAP Server

After adding an LDAP server, you can choose the Directories group in the
Address Book window and then select the directory server you added. Finally,
type a query string in the Search field and press Return.

You can drag any entry in the result list to the All group, or one of your
personally defined groups. It will be added and can be edited like any other
address card.

Printing Mailing Labels

Built into Panther's Address Book is the capability to easily print
labels. To print labels, first select the group you want to print and then
Choose File, Print. Address Book displays the dialog box shown in Figure
3.5.

Use the Style pop-up menu to choose between a mailing label layout and a
simple list of names. When printing lists, you are given the option of choosing
which attributes are printed in the list and what font to use.

Mailing labels (the style chosen in Figure 3.5) provide settings for
controlling your paper layout under the Layout button bar option and include
several label standards, such as Avery. The Label button displays settings for
choosing between which Address Book addresses are printed (Home or Work),
sorting, font options, and an image that can be printed beside each address.

Make your setting choices and view the results in the preview on the left
side of the window; then click Print to start printing.

Preferences

The Address Book preferences, accessible from the application menu, are used
to choose sorting display and vCard preferences and to configure LDAP servers
for use with the Address Book directory services.

General

The General pane, shown in Figure 3.6, allows you to choose the Display order
for names (first or last name first), how the contacts should be sorted, the
Address format, and display font.

To automatically send updates made to your personal card to a group of people
in your Address Book, click the Notify People When My Card Changes check box.
When you change any piece of information in your card, you are prompted whether
you want to email the update to your contacts. You can choose the groups to send
email to, and type a brief message to them, as shown in Figure 3.7.

Figure
3.7 Have Address Book automatically notify other people when updates take
place.

Finally, Address Book now supports simple synchronization with
Exchangecovered in detail in Chapter 30.

Template

The Template preferences pane provides control over the "default"
Address Card format. Using the same controls available when creating a card
entry, you can create your own custom template, as shown in Figure 3.8.

Use the Add Field pop-up menu to add additional fields to the template.

Phone

The Phone preferences pane, shown in Figure 3.9, enables you to create and
choose custom phone layouts and activate/deactivate automatic formatting of
phone numbers in Address Book. Note that autoformatting must be enabled for you
to use the custom defined layouts.

Use the Formats menu to choose from one of the predefined formats, or click
the disclosure button to display the format editor (visible in Figure 3.9). To
use the format editor, click "+" to add a new format and type the
number format as you want it to appear, substituting the pound (#) sign for the
actual phone number digits.

Use the "-" button to remove phone number formats or the edit
button to edit existing formats. The formats can also be dragged in the listing
to change their order.

vCard

Use the vCard pane to choose the default format of your address cards (2.1 or
3.0).

You can also ensure the privacy of your personal card by enabling the Enable
Private 'Me' Card option. This keeps everything but your work
contact data from being exported with your card.

Use the Export Notes in vCards option to include the notes field when
exporting cards. Because notes are typically personal information, they are not
exported by default.

LDAP

Because we already covered LDAP configured in the course of the Address Book
discussion, it won't be included here.

Menus

The Address Book menus have a few features that we haven't covered
yet.

File

Use the File menu to export, import, and back up your Address Book
database.

New Card (Command-N)Create a new Contact card.

New Group (Shift-Command-N)Create a new Contact group.

New Group from SelectionCreate a new group based on the contacts
currently selected within the Address Book.

ImportImport contact information from vCards or LDIF data.

Export vCard/Group vCardDepending on whether you have a single
contact or group selected, this function exports a single or multiple contact
.vcf file. Alternatively, you can just drag the group or contact from
the Address Book to the Finder.

Backup DatabaseBack up the Address Book database.

Revert to Database BackupLoad the Address Book backup
information.

Send UpdatesSend a notice to your contacts that your personal card
has been updated.

Edit

The Edit menu, among other things, sports a working Undo feature that
actually works to undo changes, including deletes, in the Address Book.

Undo/RedoUndo/redo the last change made to the Address
Book.

Delete Person/PeopleDelete the selected contact(s).

Remove from GroupRemove the selected contact(s) from the group
they're in. The contact itself is not deleted.

Rename GroupRename the selected group.

Edit Card (Command-L)Edit the currently selected card.

Edit Distribution ListResolve multiple email address conflicts when
using a group as a mailing list.

View

The View menu toggles between the Card and Columns view (Command-1), Card
view (Command-2), and the Directories view (Command-3).

Card

Finally, the Card menu is used to move between cards and customize their
appearance.

Next Card (Command-])Move to the next card within a group.

Previous Card (Command-[)Move to the previous card within a
group.

Merge CardsMerge the information within the selected
cards.

Add FieldAdd a special field (IM, Phonetic spelling, or Birthday)
to the current contact. This is a Company/PersonChoose to display the card
in a person-centric or company-centric card.

Swap First/Last NamesSwap the contact's first and last name
fields.

Make This My CardSet the currently highlighted contact to be
you.

Go To My CardShow the contact card that is marked as identifying
"you."

Clear Custom ImageClear any image that has been set for the current
contact.

Choose Custom ImageSet a custom image for the current card,
including taking a photo through an active FireWire camera.

Open in Separate Window (Command-I)Open the current card in a
single separate window.

NOTE

Many applications, including Address Book, have a Scripts menu that provides
access to many prebuilt AppleScripts. Address Book includes scripts for
importing addresses from other applications.